


The Thrill of Victory (and the Stanley Cup)

by Mandoli



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 07:12:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4129312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandoli/pseuds/Mandoli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holding that heavy trophy in their hands and over their heads means that they've succeeded at that particular moment in their lives. (Rated G, even with minimal swearing in the story. One has been warned.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Thrill of Victory (and the Stanley Cup)

Nothing in life can compare to the moment when one raises the Stanley Cup. It can either be one's first time or one's third time. Nobody's going to question one's choice of emotion when they find out it's just another Cup added to their résumé. If one wants to celebrate like they've just won their first Cup, then they can do so. Free countries; United States and Canada. Freedom of expression, you know.

Consider this a player's personal victory. It's a thrill to see what the road was like in order to come face to face with the silver chalice at the end of the series. Holding that heavy trophy in their hands and over their heads means that they've succeeded at that particular moment in their lives. Other moments could be thrown into an argument regarding accomplishments in a player's career (winning a gold medal in the Olympics is definitely a great second option, if one had to pick either or), but it's fucking June of all months. If you're still playing hockey in meteorological summer, then there's something regarding all of it that says that the player that you're talking about has gone places in life.

The road to the Stanley Cup isn't easy. It takes eighty-two games to get to the playoffs, with two short breaks in a span of about seven months. Maybe a team gets a break in-between series, if a team is lucky enough to win early on against whatever team they were up against in whatever round it was. Sweeps mean that you get a good week and change, if a series goes to seven games. Does rest matter to a team, though? You could sweep in the first round and get swept by a team that made it to the same round in a demanding and grueling seven game series.

Nothing is easy. Players get hurt and suck it up from the time the injury occurred to the time they are formally eliminated. Injuries are no excuse for failing to reach the ultimate goal.

Now, when a player gets the Stanley Cup in his hands, and he has passed it to one of his teammates (who has then started a chain of passing it around to everyone else, including the “black aces”), there are many things that can happen. While one has the Cup and is on camera, they have no control over what he says. Occasionally, people watching on NBC or Sportsnet will hear a variety of four-letter words. Many of them will be fuck, as in “fuck yeah”. It will all be audible, even to the kidlets, who might have to get up the next day and go to school. There are no apologies until after the production crew has cut to the on-screen talent, and there are no seven-second delays, as far as previous seasons have gone.

So what? It's emotion. They've won the Cup; the one prize that many players dream of winning. It's part of the thrill of a player's career and their natural-born existence. Celebrate loudly and proudly. It may never happen again.


End file.
